Growing Returns

Selected tag(s): Upper Green River Conservation Exchange

USDA: Helping ranchers is crucial to helping sage-grouse

By Eric Holst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: February 13, 2015

Central Oregon rancher restores sage-grouse habitat with NRCS assistance. Source: nrcs.usda.gov

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) just announced new funding to support sage-grouse habitat conservation on working lands.

This is very promising, considering the last round of sage-grouse funding engaged more than 1,000 ranchers to conserve 4.4 million acres of bird habitat – an area twice the size of Yellowstone National Park.

That last round of funding – made available in 2010 through the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s (NRCS) Sage Grouse Initiative – invested $296.5 million to restore and conserve sage-grouse habitat. Today, NRCS pledged to extend these efforts by $200 million over another for years.

Doubling down on a good investment
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Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Also tagged bird habitat, central wyoming, conservation, ecosystems, farmers, habitat exchange, NRCS, ranchers, robert bonnie, sage grouse, upper green river, USDA | Comments are closed

Wyoming ranchers steward land, cattle and the greater sage-grouse

By Sara Brodnax / Bio / Published: October 9, 2014

Cattle ranching and greater sage-grouse can not only coexist, but thrive.

Ranchers and other private landowners have a critical role to play in conserving wildlife like the greater sage-grouse, which could face listing under the Endangered Species Act in 2015.

Home to nearly half of the greater sage-grouse’s remaining habitat, Wyoming is a landscape critical to the recovery of the species. A full 40 percent of the bird’s habitat in the state is privately held. Therefore, common sense solutions are needed to reward ranchers and other private landowners for conservation actions that protect vital habitat.

A rural, working landscape

Private lands in the West are often found near water, as ranches and other homesteaders put down stakes where they had ready access to water. For similar reasons, these areas are also critically important to wildlife.

Posted in Habitat Exchange, Wildlife Protection / Also tagged agriculture, ecosystems, endangered species, ESA, greater sage-grouse, habitat, Jonah Field, Partnerships, Pinedale Anticline, ranching, sage grouse initiative, Sublette County Conservation District, wildlife, Wyoming, Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts, Wyoming Association of Stock Growers, Wyoming Conservation Exchange | Comments are closed